Little ingenuity, we're told (4)
I believe the answer is:
whit
'little' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'ingenuity we're told' is the wordplay.
'ingenuity' becomes 'wit' (I've seen this before).
'we're told' shows a homophone (sound like).
'wit' sounds like 'WHIT'.
(Other definitions for whit that I've seen before include "Pentecost (abbrev.)" , "church feast" , "The smallest amount" , "Very small part - Christian festival" , "Small piece - 7th Sunday after Easter" .)